Reading blog posts yesterday afternoon I was inspired by Nancy’s notquiteold piece on kindness. She had, you see, been a bit rude to a Medicare employee on the other end of the phone the day before and she wanted to make amends.
Who does that?
The remark she made didn’t seem all that rude to me. Really, it was just a tiny bit off color and I’m sure the people working the phones at Medicare have heard a whole lot worse. But Nancy felt bad, so she called back the next day and apologized, and though the person she spoke to wasn’t the same as the one the day before, I’m sure she made someone’s day.
Because, really, who does that?
Nancy is right, in this election year filled with accusations and taunts, lies and misconstrued actions, we seem to have accepted rudeness as the new normal. But we don’t have to.
We can be trend setters.
Today each of us could go out of our way to be kind to someone. Consciously kind. Take the extra moment to look someone in the eye when you ask them how their day is, then listen to the answer and respond with empathy. Add a little extra to the tip at lunch and thank the server with a genuine smile. Offer to grab something at the grocery store for your neighbor. Visit an elderly relative who lives alone. Hold a door open for someone, let a car cut in front of you, slip that guy who’s always on the corner a dollar with a smile.
Do something kind today. And tomorrow. Start a new trend.
Let’s shrug off the negativity of this year’s campaign. You’ve probably made your election decision by now, so turn off the TV. There’s no point in letting more of that into your brain or heart. There’s no room these days for more drivel and spite and lies.
Spend the spare time you have doing something you love and spread a little kindness about while you’re doing it. The world will benefit and you’ll feel better too.
Thank you, Nancy, for the inspiration. Sometimes we just need a gentle nudge in the right direction.
PS: And if you need to clear your head, today is the first day of Robin’s “Walktober.” The concept is to take a walk, take a few pictures, and then share that walk with all of us. You have until October 23rd to do your walk and until October 25th to share it with us by linking to Robin’s blog. I think a walk in the beautiful October sun (or cool October rain if that’s what you’ve got going on) would be a very good way to spend a few minutes or hours. Go check it out at Robin’s blog!
I’m headed out even as we speak.
October 15, 2016 at 10:02 am
Spread a little kindness – what a beautifully simple thing to do. In this time of division, fear, and no tolerance, kindness is even more important.
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October 16, 2016 at 2:15 pm
I agree. We might not be able to mandate kindness on the national scene, but we can make it priority in our own world.
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October 15, 2016 at 2:41 pm
Great idea — and so timely! I voted early, just so I could tune out the rest of the nonsense (and isn’t it sad that I even refer to a presidential election as ‘nonsense’??) I’ve already done my walk, too … but nobody says I can’t go again!
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October 16, 2016 at 2:16 pm
Three more weeks. Sigh. I was going to go on my walk, but instead I took Katie to the park…and we didn’t walk..we sat in the shade and contemplated life. Today it’s raining pretty hard. Guess Monday will be my Walktober day.
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October 15, 2016 at 3:58 pm
Sometimes it is the little things that make all the difference. Passed a Mom and a little girl of about 7 this morning – the mom was scolding her for wearing pink cowbow boots…as I passed I smiled brightly and said to her – wow look you rockin those little boots – they are so cute. I could see her stand up straight and suddenly feel good about her choice – made me smile all the way home 🙂
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October 16, 2016 at 2:17 pm
Good for you supporting her. I bet they were darling. Hope her mom realized it too.
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October 15, 2016 at 6:32 pm
Thank you for referencing my blog. Your post is quite lovely. Maybe we can start our own little kindness trend.
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October 16, 2016 at 2:18 pm
It’s worth the effort to be kind, even if the only benefit was because we feel better ourselves when we’re kind. Thank YOU for your post!
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October 16, 2016 at 12:36 pm
I am behind on several phone calls, thank you for the reminder. Kindness begins with us, but I was reminded at a recent conference put on by the Bill of Rights Institute. Our founders developed our Constitution on several founding principles and essential virtues. The essential virtue that resonates with me is this one – Civil Discourse: Reasoned and respectful sharing of ideas between individuals is the primary way people influence change in society \government, and is essential to maintain elf-government. We’ve lost our civil discourse and we need to get it back, it’s essential to self-government. Have a wonderful week. Peace.
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October 16, 2016 at 2:19 pm
I agree, there doesn’t seem to be much civil discourse these days. Though I have to say I had dinner with two of my college roommates this week, and we are not all on the same page as far as party affiliation, so though mostly we avoided political talk, we did approach it cautiously and listened to each other as we disagreed on the Presidential candidates. And we left still friends. So it can be done.
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October 16, 2016 at 3:12 pm
Great. Somehow our country has lost the ability to compromise….
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October 16, 2016 at 1:07 pm
Had a conversation with a bookstore customer yesterday that really put life in context for me. She is a private care nurse, her charge a young autistic woman in her 20s, confined to a wheelchair from problems during delivery, unable to communicate except to yell out or scream. She can move around in her wheelchair, and she likes to watch videos. That is pretty much her entire life. How lucky are the rest of us???!!!
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October 16, 2016 at 2:20 pm
Oh my. I knew when I was young that I could never be a nurse. These days, I’m certain of that. I wish her well in her career…she’s a special sort of person. And yes we are very very lucky!
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October 16, 2016 at 2:07 pm
A beautiful post Dawn. Thank you 🙂
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October 16, 2016 at 2:21 pm
You are welcome.
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October 16, 2016 at 5:47 pm
wonderful post. thank you
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October 16, 2016 at 6:19 pm
You are welcome as well!
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